Author
Topic: I FINALLY have a JOB! (Read 597 times)

Background for those who don’t know me - I left my first career as s physical therapist a year after my first husband died. I had met the man who was to become my second husband and fairly quickly moved halfway across the country to be with him. I had the sudden realization that I no longer wanted to work in PT. My (future) husband was completely supportive of my decision and encouraged me to take some time, play a bit, travel, and consider going back to school. He was a university professor and we had these options. So...I did just that. Putzed around, managed some renovations to our house, traveled fairly extensively and went back to school. I didn’t know where I wanted to go in terms of career, but I was working part time on another Bachelor’s degree. Then, my second husband died unexpectedly in his sleep.

School became the vehicle that got me through the ensuing days and weeks and months. I had six classes over 2 semesters to finish that degree, however I still didn’t know what I wanted to do!

I realized that I loved Higher Education - the wonderful gift that my second husband brought to me. I decided to enroll in an on-campus Student Affairs Masters program and I started it a year after my husband died. I finished coursework a year ago in December and finished my final project a year ago this month. I started applying for jobs a year ago, while at the same time, I downsized and packed up my house. I knew I could not stay where I had lived with my second husband. I really liked it there -with my husband. Being there without him just reinforced my losses. I made the decision to return to the east coast where I have friends and family scattered. I put my property in storage, rented my house to a young professor, and I have spent the last 6 months in limbo either with my parents or at the vacant second house of some friends.

I cannot count the number of job applications that I have sent out. On the east coast, it is not uncommon to have 100-200 applications received for each job posted in my field. Just getting preliminary phone or Skype interview is a rare occurrence.

But - finally - I have a job offer for an academic advisor position in a private college that is geographically much closer to where I have friends and family. It is a new place for me, as I don’t want to live specifically where I have lived in the past. I accepted the position today and soon I will have income again!

My life has felt like a car in neutral for too long. I can finally shift into gear and begin moving forward again. My years in school certainly moved me forward. Now I can take more steps to establish a new life in a new location. Work will be the next vehicle for me. I am staying just over an hour from work, and once I get established in my job, I will look for a place of my own and reunite with my own bed and other furnishings. A new town, a new start, a new life.

I didn’t want this when I moved to Kansas, in love with my second great love. But he isn’t here and I don’t have that life anymore. Life is coming together again. I am excited. It feels good and a little scary, too.